Mission Statement

The University of Mary Washington’s Writing Center seeks to enhance and support high quality education through engaged tutorials, workshops, and community outreach. Supporting undergraduate and graduate students in disciplinary and interdisciplinary studies as well as research, the Writing Center offers one-on-one tutorials by professional and highly-trained tutors. The Writing Center promotes and practices integrity by adhering to and educating about the Honor Code, especially as it pertains to writing. The Writing Center also promotes life-long learning by encouraging students to apply their knowledge and broad-based educational experiences to their own writing, thus developing habits that translate into becoming better writers and academicians during and beyond life at the University of Mary Washington.

Goals:

Goal One: To provide resources that enhance the writing skills of UMW students.

Goal Two: To provide a space and atmosphere that is conducive to student writing and development.

Fredericksburg Campus (540) 654-1036

Stafford Students and Commuter Students

If you are a commuter or a student enrolled at the Stafford Campus, you may schedule online or face-to-face appointments. Face-to-face appointments are available on the schedule as well as online appointments. Please ensure you are choosing the appropriate appointment type.

Further, you will NO LONGER send your essay ahead of time unless you are working face-to-face with Dr. Hale. Then you will email her your paper 24 hours in advance (ghale@umw.edu). The Writing Center at the Stafford Campus will only be open during scheduled times and will not be available for walk-ins at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience. Of course, commuter and Stafford Campus-enrolled students always have the option of scheduling appointments at the Fredericksburg Campus Writing Center.

Online Scheduling

Select a service to schedule an appointment.

Writing Center Services

A representative will come to the classroom or have the class meet in the Writing Center (instructor's choice) and give a presentation of the instructor's choice. These can be an overview of Writing Center services, citation style, paraphrasing, punctuation, or anything tailored for a specific course.

Students can request an hour appointment even if their essay is NOT six or more pages. Students will bring in a printed copy of their assignment sheet (if they have one) as well as a printed copy of what they have completed of their assignment. We also assist with brainstorming, so if you do not have anything written, that is fine. Students will meet with a consultant for up to an hour, but students do not have to use the entire time if it is not needed.

Students should sign up for this length appointment if your paper is FIVE pages or fewer. HOWEVER, students with longer papers who only need a small portion of their essay examined may also sign up for thirty minute appointments. Further, the same requirements apply to this as for the one hour consultation (see above). If you feel you will still need longer than thirty minutes, please schedule for an hour.

Stafford Students and Commuting Students

The online appointments occur through Canvas. If you log into Canvas, you will see you are enrolled in a course titled UMW Online WC. Enter that course and click on conferences. Your consultant will invite you to a session. Once you get to Conferences, you click "Join." You should wait a few minutes past the hour so that your consultant may have time to set up the conference. If your paper is longer than 10-12 pages, you should consider scheduling at least two consultations.